1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention is healthful tablets and mini-bars which will dissolve in the mouth. The tablets and mini-bars contain active ingredients which maintain or improve health. The tablets may be mounted on lollipop sticks. The ingredients are oxygen supplement, vitamins, minerals, healthful herbs, and dehydrated healthful foods. This invention is also directed to wrappers which fit around a plurality of the tablets stacked end-to-end, around the bars, or around a single tablet on a lollipop stick. Additionally, the field of this invention is thermally insulating containers for everyday use and for emergency canteen containers for disasters. The canteen containers protect their ingredients from temperature changes and are useful for distributing the tablets and mini-bars of this invention, water, dehydrated food, vitamins, supplements, a first aid kit, and necessary supplies in times of disasters.
2. Description of the Related Art
The art is aware of administering active ingredients to people by means of products which will dissolve in the mouth. U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,496 to Stapler et al discloses antibacterial mints wherein the active ingredient is contained in microcapsules and will be released in the oral cavity. U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,748 to Egy describes the topical application to the oral cavity of medicaments to shorten the duration of colds by means of dissolvable tablets. The use of lollipops as carriers for medicaments is also known in the art. Thermally insulating storage containers are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,324 to Grenell shows compartmentalized thermally insulating containers for food, etc.
The oral compositions of the prior art use large quantities of non-therapeutic carriers and minor amounts of active ingredients. One reason for this is that in any one product, only a small amount of active ingredient is needed and the tablets must be of a size which can be handled. The tablets of the prior art are not appealing to children or adults who enjoy a multiplicity of different food tastes such as mother's chicken soup, pizza, fish, turkey and vegetables in that the prior art tablets and mini-bars are made up of a single flavor.
The art is also aware of thermal storage containers for food. U.S. Pat. No. 4,444,324 to Grenell shows compartmentalized thermally insulating containers for food, etc. These compartmentalized containers are made so that each compartment is the same size. These containers would be difficult to find at night if their use as emergency containers was attempted, and these containers would offer no help in signaling for help or in directionally orienting the user. These containers do not have O-rings between the covers and the container to protect against leakage and temperature changes. These containers do not have covers that are attached by a connection. Therefore the covers of the prior art containers can become lost.